The shutters rattled against the sides of the cabin as a howling wind swept across the island. It was a chilly Wawanakwa night, the moon and the stars nowhere to be seen in the cloudy, murky sky. Under a dim, humming light in the cabins, two figures huddled in a warm corner. The fire crackled in the bot-belly stove, emanating precious heat to fight off the chill as it crept in through the cracks in the old rotting floorboards.
The door whipped open, clattering on its hinges as the wind whipped it against the frame. A figure stood ominously in shadow at the entrance, the gusts behind them like an eerie choir heralding their arrival.
"Katie, shut the door!" Lindsay whined. "It's like, already way too cold."
"Sorry!" Katie apologized, grabbing the door and heaving it shut. She sat down on the floor with the others, a warm pillow ready for her to shield rear her from the frigid floorboards.
"What took you so long?" Beth asked.
"Oh, my date this evening ran a little long." Katie giggled excitedly. "He just has this…way with words." She sighed dreamily.
"Omg, are you guys like, official now?" Lindsay asked.
"Totally official." Katie beamed, her smile stretching from ear to ear.
"That's great, you guys are gonna be such a cute couple!" Lindsay said.
"Yeah." Beth said, her eye twitching as she forced a smile onto her face. "I'm so…happy…for you."
Later, when she was by herself and had a chance to use the confessional, she'd be a bit more honest about her feelings. "Ugh, seriously Katie?" She groaned. "Noah? You could do soooo much better. Like…y'know…anyone else."
Presently however she wasn't going to let her judgment ruin a perfectly good sleepover. Speaking of which,
"So like, we're still on for the sleepover right?" Katie asked.
"Oh it is so on." Lindsay nodded. "You like, brought everything right?"
Katie nodded, reaching under her bed and producing a sizable burlap bag. "I've got tarot cards, box of twinkies, a guide to the hottest hairstyles of 1985."
"Does it also come with a time machine?" Heather rolled her eyes, "And seriously? Tarot cards? Totally grade school."
She watched them from the top bunk, overlooking the corner by the stove where they had gathered.
"Come on Heather, it's just harmless fun." Katie laughed. "Are you afraid I'll draw a bad card for you?"
"As if. I'm in control of my own destiny, I don't need to ask a dumbass piece of paper for permission to be this fabulous." Heather scoffed. "I just don't get why you feel the need to have these sleepovers. We already sleep in the same place every night. What's the big deal?"
"Oh my gosh Heather." Lindsay gasped. "A sleepover is soooo much more than just like, sleeping in the same room! It's like, a ritual! You know, like communism in church. Its like a sacred thingy for girls all around the world."
"You mean communion?" Heather asked.
"Isn't that what I said?" Lindsay said.
"Ugh whatever, just turn the lights off before midnight and don't play any loud music." Heather said, snapping a sleep mask over her eyes and laying back down. Since the makeup incident had been resolved, she seemed to be cooling off. Beth and Lindsay had yet to see her in a good mood since then, but the hostility and rage had subsided. Now they were only subject to a normal amount of mockery, berating and condescension.
In hushed tones, Lindsay continued. "Okay so like, you gotta tell us the whole story." She said to Katie. "How did you guys like, hook up?"
"It was so crazy." Katie said. "So there was like, this mine right? And Noah says it would be a great hiding spot, so I go there to wait for him…"
And thus it was that Lindsay and Beth would have the full saga illuminated to them. Lindsay listened with rapt attention, it was like listening to a less dirty romance novel play out in real time from the perspective of someone she actually knew. Beth continued to feign happiness, or failing that, at least tolerance. She did like to see Katie happy, but given her opinion on the guy she chose she couldn't see it lasting long
It did however, last long enough that the next couple days saw them go on more dates. On the day of the challenge, they decided to enjoy their morning with a walk down the beach. The sun peeked through low cloud cover as it rose over the horizon, the wind tossing stray hairs across Noah's face. In one arm he had Katie. In the opposite hand of that, he had a beloved childhood tome borrowed from another competitor for some entertainment on their early soiree.
"Catch them, Mistress Barbarous screams over the microphone, don't let them get away." Noah narrated in his best melodramatic mockery. "You and Richie dash out of the main tent and into a large backstage tent. Costumes and pieces of circus equipment are scattered on the floor."
He then held up the book towards her so that she could read the next line, which he helpfully indicated with his thumb. "What's going on? Richie cries," Katie said, providing the voice for the main character's best friend while holding back a giggling fit. "He shoots you a terrified glance. Are they trying to kill us or what?"
"What was your first hint?" Noah said, breaking his narration to do so before resuming his own part of the reading. "I don't know, you yell, but look out! A clown car is barreling towards you!"
Katie couldn't contain her laughter any longer. "What the heck?! Like, where did that even come from? They so didn't mention that clown car before."
"Hey give the book some slack." Noah snickered. "It's light on description. All we know about the circus tent is that it smells like animal poop and has sawdust on the floor. God, I can't believe I was ever scared of this as a kid."
"Did it ever get as scary as that iceberg?" Katie teased.
"Oh hell no." Noah shook his head. "Give me a killer circus any day of the week over a ticket on that boat."
"OMG maybe I could be the scary clown lady that like, puts clown makeup on…" Katie paused dramatically. "That kills people! Muahahaha!"
Putting children's horror on blast together wasn't exactly most couple's idea of a romantic date, but it seemed to work for them. She would laugh at even his lamest jokes, and he would likewise lose his mind over her very mediocre dramatic impressions. It didn't matter how funny it actually was, they were doing it together and that's all they cared about.
Before Noah could recite more of R.L. Stine, running through a verbal sawmill in the process, their attention was grabbed by the loudspeakers.
"Morning campers!" Chris greeted. "Your next challenge awaits you at the arts and crafts center."
Snapping the book shut, Noah sighed. "We better go see what he wants."
The first thing they noticed was that Chris wasn't actually in the arts and crafts tent. He was waiting for them at a dilapidated shed in the woods behind it some ways. The second thing they noticed was that instead of art supplies, there was a small mountain of mechanical junk piled up along the side of the shed.
By the time Noah and Katie got there, everyone else had already arrived. Heather glared daggers at them for their lateness.
"Welcome to the arts and craft center." Chris greeted them.
"More like arts and crap center." Noah quipped. Katie thought it was hilarious, everyone else was flatly unamused.
"Yeah. It used to be an outhouse but now it's where Chef parks his road hog." Chris kicked the door open. Resting inside was a gleaming piece of hot-rod history, a classic motorbike in such pristine condition it looked like it rolled off the factory floor yesterday. It had tall handlebars, flaming decals and of course, chrome on every metal surface imaginable.
"Woah, nice wheels eh." Zeke said.
"Chef's got a sick ride yo!" Geoff said. "Are we gonna ride it?"
"Not if you enjoy your organs right where they are, dude." Chris said. "Which brings me to today's challenge. Building your own wheels."
"Rock on! Hot-rods rule!" Geoff said, carrying the enthusiasm for all those who couldn't be there today.
"You'll find all the parts you need in our bike depot." The gestured to the alleged depot, the pile of bike parts and other miscellaneous mechanical junk piled up against the shed. "Once you've got the basics, trick them out any way you want using props from the arts and crafts tent. Best design wins an advantage in the next part of the challenge." Chris donned a helmet and hopped onto the back of a four-wheeler. "And because I'm such a nice guy, I'm even throwing in a bike manual."
He chucked a large, musty tome in the general direction of the crowd. Heather caught it and immediately regretted doing so when her fingers ran across large, moldy patches covered in hair.
"Ew!" She tossed it aside. "It's furry!"
Chris then drove off to go watch from afar, while the campers started to dig through the junk pile to get started on their bikes. Ezekiel looked around nervously, and went to the confessional to get some anxieties off his chest before he got started.
"Man, I'm feeling good about this challenge eh. I mean, I've turned a wrench before. But like, on this island you need votes. Beth is great, but I know my math and two votes is not enough with all these big alliances in the game. I gotta at least make the rest of the girls not hate me so they don't all gang up on me again yeah? Lady hater Zeke is out, it's time to become lady respecting Zeke! Yeah!" He paused, then winced as he thought about how that actually sounded. "Okay, that still needs some work eh."
Others had no such worries or reservations. Heather didn't even bother looking at the bike instructions or trying to pick out parts for her ride. Instead, she just carefully grabbed the instructions by the parts not covered in mold, found Noah, and shoved the book forcefully into his arms.
"You, bookworm." She said. "You're smart, you know how stuff works. Make me a bike."
"Sorry Heather, bikes are not my forte. The only thing I've ever worked on that turns is a computer fan, not a bike wheel."
"Well make it your forte, brainiac." Heather said. "I will have the best bike in this race and that is not optional."
"You can't be serious." Noah said. "I've never picked up a wrench, I don't even know which way you turn the thingy to tighten down the whatsit."
"That sounds like a whole lot of not my problem." Heather shrugged. "Now get to work!"
Resigned to his fate, Noah took the book, and started flipping through the pages to get an idea of what he would need. As he perused the introduction, which helpfully outlined some key principles about bike operation, Katie came up beside him and took a seat, wrapping an arm around his waist.
"That does not look like Goosebumps." She smirked.
"Nope. This time, it's something actually scary. Physical labor." Noah waved his hands over his head in a facetious imitation of a bedsheet ghost or other vaguely Scooby-Doo esque monster.
"Oh no! Like, how are you ever going to survive?" Katie said.
"Might be a bit easier with two pairs of hands." He suggested. "Apart, we may be two clueless idiots, but together we can form one entire hopeless moron."
Together they were able to make steady progress through the material, and with that as a guide they began piecing together who Heather's bike would be made bit by bit. In doing so they spared Lindsay and Beth from having to do it instead. It was something neither could know or appreciate, the ramifications of which were impossible to comprehend without knowing how much their world had changed but for the actions of one stubborn delinquent so long ago.
"This is sooo great!" Lindsay said as she dragged a sparkly pink frame out of the wreckage. "Every year for Christmas I asked for a sunset sally bike, but never got it."
"Weird." Beth scratched her head, at a loss for words really. How could the seemingly limitless wealth of Lindsay's family not buy her a simple bike? And how could she say that without sounding outwardly bitter at her friend for being rich?"
"Guess your Dad didn't bribe Santa enough." Beth shrugged.
"I know." Lindsay whined. "It was so terrible. All he did was buy me another real horse for Christmas, and I already had six. Daddy said," She shifted her pitch down to sound more like a big man talking. "No daughter of mine will be seen riding a fake horse. We're not poor."
That explained it.
"Need some help?" Ezekiel asked, quickly adding as he realized how that might sound. "Uh, I mean, want help? Cause I'm sure you don't need it but-"
"Yes." Beth cut him to save him the embarrassment. "Just uh, grab some parts."
"Wait, can we like, trust him?" Lindsay asked. "I don't remember him ever being here. What if he's just like, a homeless guy who wandered onto the show?"
"Lindsay, you were right there when he arrived on the boat." Beth pointed out.
"Homeless people can come on boats. That's how we got our maid." Lindsay said.
There was no response Beth could think of for that. She decided the best option was to not even bother. "Lindsay, he's not a homeless person. He was just on the other team, remember?"
It took a while for the lights to turn on in Lindsay's eyes. "Oooooh that's why. Wait, was he the guy that said all those mean things about girls?" She gasped, as if this was some mind blowing realization illuminated by her genius intellect, "Is that why everyone was mad when he came back?"
Ezekiel and Beth glanced at each other nervously. "No?" Beth ventured.
"Oh, thank god." Lindsay sighed in relief, "Must have been someone else. They probably just hate him because he's ugly."
Not exactly the response Ezekiel was hoping for, but it wasn't rejection and he could live with that. He went quiet and focused on gathering the parts they needed. Frames in good condition were in short supply, some were bent and others had sections missing that would need to be reinforced with whatever they could find. Heather shoved to the front of the line to take the best for herself, and Courtney was the only one willing to fight her for the best material. Everyone else dug through what was left in whatever order they arrived in.
Between the three of them, they had enough materials of varying quality to put together about three bikes. Beth was figuring out the process through a bit of trial and error, but what shocked both her and Zeke was that when Lindsay sat down with her parts she held the wrench the right direction. Even more shocking, she actually was able to use it to unfasten the bad bent up handlebars stuck on her frame and start wiggling it out.
"Where'd you learn to do that?" Beth asked.
"Oh, I had a job as a mechanical person once."
"You had a job?" Beth gasped in disbelief.
"It was the worst thing ever! I crashed the Porsche Daddy got me for my Sweet 16, and he was super pissed off! He took away my license and made me work at a car shop until it was fixed." Lindsay explained. "It was horrible, there was grease everywhere and the floor was super grimy."
"I just can't believe they actually made you work." Beth shook her head. "I thought they'd just have you sit down and watch or something."
"I wish! But like, the guy who owned the store was friends with Daddy and they both said I needed to like, learn the value of hard work or something."
"How did you survive?" Beth asked.
"Well once I got used to the smell and the ugly uniform, it was kinda fun." Lindsay said. "Fixing things, taking out old rusty parts and putting in shiny new ones, it's like a makeover for your car. I'm so glad it's over though, I broke soooooo many nails at that job. Hey Randall, you're pretty good at it too."
Ezekiel glanced up to see where this "Randall" was, only to find Lindsay looking at him. Already he'd installed the main gear at the back which would drive the wheel, and was putting in the front one that connected to the pedals.
"Oh you mean me? Uh, thanks." He said. "Guess it's not too different than the tractors back home. Been helping out on those since I was tiny eh."
"Just like my cousin Ryan." Beth said. "Say, Zeke, do you have town parades at home?"
"Yeah. It's a small thing but we do it every year." Zeke nodded. "This year I get to drive the tractor up front eh."
"Wow, that's so cool. Not to brag, but last year, the float I designed and built got second place in the parade. The judges loved it, I was pretty much town famous for a day. Then the next week I went back to school and it was like, people had totally forgot." Beth sighed. "When they say fame is fleeting, they aren't kidding. Hey, can you hand me that pedal?"
Ezekiel grabbed a pair of matching pedals from their parts pile and gently tossed them to Beth with an underhand throw.
"Nah, you gotta chase it eh." He shook his head. "Once you get famous you gotta stay on top of it or else people forget you. This one time, I had this huge booger on my shirt in a family photo, and I didn't even notice it until one of my my little cousins noticed it during the family reunion. They went around showing it to everyone in the house calling me Booger Boy. It was so awesome, everyone was talking about me and looking at me when I came in the room."
"Zeke…" Beth said. "They were making fun of you. You don't want everyone to know you if it's for something embarrassing like that."
"No way! I was really famous and it was the coolest thing ever." He insisted. "They'd see me and chant, Here comes Booger Boy! Here Comes Booger Boy…" He trailed off, the words taking on a different sound coming from his own mouth. Or maybe time and distance had imparted him the introspection to hear it another way. "Oh no….you're right…"
"Don't worry." Beth assured him. "It happens to all of us. I was class famous for getting lost in a corn field on a school field trip. The teachers didn't notice I was gone until they called roll back at school. After that everyone would stop me in the hall to give me directions to my next class and it would always end with, if you reach the corn field you've gone too far." She echoed the last line mockingly, conveying the tone with which it had been said to her so many times.
Lindsay, who had listened to the talk of tractors and cornfields with distant, confused eyes, perked up now. "That sounds totally scary! This one time, when I was thirteen, I got lost at the mall. This nice guy who worked there tried to help me, but he didn't know where he was going and we just ended up getting more lost. I cried so much."
Getting lost in an air conditioned mall with clean floors and a bottomless credit card didn't exactly sound like a terrifying situation to Beth, but she bit her tongue and only barely avoided bringing it up. "Wow, how did you get out of there?" She asked.
"This really nice lady from the sports store found us and called our parents over the speakers." Lindsay said.
"Wait." Ezekiel said. "Malls are real?"
The girls both got a good laugh out of that one. Their conversation continued and their bikes began to take shape, and the homeschool learned many more strange things that he'd only seen on the television were in fact, real.
There would be no such earth-shaking revelations for Geoff, Gwen and Courtney. Their work was mostly quiet, they were all focused on the task at hand. Every one of them had a reason to aim for first place, and so they had all agreed to build the best bikes they could together. Whoever rode across the finish line would earn their immunity fair and square, and their only objective was to make sure it wasn't Heather.
A somber atmosphere permeated their labor. Everyone had lost someone to Heather, but none of them had time before to really reflect upon it when she had seemed all-powerful and every elimination meant they could be next. Owen's elimination had bought them breathing room, given them a moment to step back and collect their thoughts.
Having that room to breath however, made them all realize how much it stung not having someone to share that space with. Geoff expressed it most obviously, gluing together the shape of Bridgette's face with dried macaroni on a trash can lid. Fond memories bubbled to the surface as he watched the likeness of her face form before his very eyes. Something caught in his throat, and he blinked a few times as his vision turned blurry.
"Miss her?" Gwen asked.
"Badly." He nodded.
Her bike's decorations weren't as on-the nose as Geoffs, she thought of herself as more subtle than that. Her chosen hood ornament of a skeleton hand with the palm spread outwards invoked the graphic on Trent's shirt in a suitably morbid way. What wasn't too subtle for Geoff however, was the guitar that she'd used as a back rest for the seat.
"You miss him too huh?" He asked her.
"Yeah." She nodded.
She went quiet and began carving out a pair of large bat wings from cardboard.
"It's not so bad." Geoff said. "We'll see them again, right?"
"Wow." Gwen said. "Even in the dumps you're still always in a good mood. How do you do it?"
"Dunno man. Guess it's just how I've always been."
"But there's no way you could know if we'll see Trent or Bridgette again." Gwen said. "Maybe after you're eliminated they send you right back home and you never see anyone from here again. Ever."
"I don't wanna think about that dude, that would just be bogus." Geoff said. "It's like, I always know there's something good ahead no matter how much it sucks right now. Like when I'm in class and the teacher's seriously creasing me. He's all like, sit down, pay attention, get off the desk Geoff." He repeated his teacher's protests in the most nasally, mocking voice he could muster. "But I know that this weekend, me and my bros are gonna throw down and have a great time. So I chill out, sit down, and get through class cause I gotta make it to that party and detention does not gel with that."
"Good for you. Getting to look forward to having a party with your friends all the time must be pretty great." Gwen said. "I wouldn't know. I don't get invited to those."
"What?" Geoff stared in disbelief at her. "You've never been to a party? Seriously?"
"Don't act so surprised." She said. "Like you'd ever invite me to one. Don't want the gloomy goth dragging down your good vibes right?"
"No way, I'd totally invite you." Geoff said. "Everyone needs to know what it's like to cut loose and par-tay!" He pumped his hands in the air for emphasis.
"You…would?" She looked up from her work.
"Yeah man." Geoff nodded.
She was so used to being rejected that the acceptance took the wind out of her. Gwen was so wrapped up in the idea that Geoff would laugh off any idea of bringing him to a party that she never thought about if she would accept the invitation once offered.
"I'll think about it." Gwen muttered.
"Cool beans. No rush." Geoff said. He returned to his work, putting the finishing touches on Bridgette's visage of glued together pasta. Just like that time she made veggie pasta in the cooking challenge. That was right before they'd started dating. Geoff remembered their first official outing together, collecting seashells on the beach while waiting for some waves to kick up.
"Bridgette loved sea shells…" He said aloud, devoid of the context from within his trip down memory lane internally.
"Wanna go pick some up?" Gwen suggested.
"Right on." He nodded, setting down the glue bottle and standing up. "Yo Courtney, we're gonna go grab some seashells, wanna come?"
"No thank you." She shook her head. "I won't be decorating my bike. The extra weight and drag will slow me down."
And people called Gwen a killjoy. She shrugged and followed Geoff down to the sand, leaving Courtney to her own business. Whether or not Geoff was serious about inviting her to a party when this was all over, she wasn't sure of yet. There was still a part of her waiting for the other shoe to drop. But as long as he kept the act up, there was no harm in playing along right? It gave her someone to talk to at least.
Courtney's comment rattled around in her head as she started sifting through the sand. Slow her down. Is that what Trent had been doing, really? Maybe if she hadn't fallen for him, she could have kept a clear head, and thought strategically. She could have dealt with Heather. Then the summer would have been hers and Trents to share, for as long as they could. Elimination was an inevitability, but maybe it wouldn't have come so soon.
"Was it worth it?" She asked Geoff.
"Huh?"
"Dating Bridgette. Like, was the happiness from being together worth the hurt of seeing her go?"
"Duh." Geoff answered without hesitation. "Being with her was awesome. Yeah, saying goodbye sucked, but knowing that Bridgette's somewhere out there rooting for me keeps me going."
She went quiet again.
"Am I a bad person for getting Trent kicked off?" Gwen asked.
"Huh? Wait, you voted off your own boyfriend?!" Geoff gasped in shock.
"No no! Nothing like that. Heather only went after him to make me miserable. If I'd left him alone maybe she would too."
"Oh, I get it." Geoff nodded, cupping his chin in his hand thoughtfully. "Guess it depends. You really think he was into you? Like, really seriously googly eyed for ya?"
"...yeah. He was a total hopeless romantic." Gwen nodded.
"Then listen here dudette. Speaking as a guy, knowing the girl you dig, digs you back? That's the best thing a man can ask for. It's like, totally magical. And if you liked it, and he liked it, what's there to worry about? You made a good call, G."
Again, it wasn't the answer she'd imagined. She wasn't even sure it was an answer she agreed with. Despite his assurances she still felt guilty. Maybe that was wrong, somehow? Was there really anything to feel guilty about? It was Heather's choice to go to war in the end. If she could only take away a tiny fraction, a single percent of Geoff's radiant optimism for herself, then maybe life would be easier and things would be more clear.
For now, sea shells would have to be enough.
Despite the total lack of experience between the two of them, between Noah's reading comprehension and Katie's knack for following directions they made good progress on Heather's bike. What they had so far was a highly functional if somewhat plain looking machine. It had all the right parts where they were supposed to go, the few test runs that Katie took it on were promising. But Noah wasn't happy with it, and it had nothing to do with the bike itself.
"Owen would have loved this challenge." Noah shook his head.
"Still think there was something fishy about his elimination?" Katie asked.
"I know there was something fishy about it." Noah said. "I think Heather just wanted an excuse to start pruning the alliance. It's getting late in the game, it would make sense."
The strategy talk was all beyond Katie's field of expertise. Sure, the social side of things was easy for her, but translating that to a plan to win was Noah's department. She just nodded along. "Well I miss him too. We just gotta like, keep going and stuff."
"We won't be going anywhere for long if Heather thinks this alliance is getting crowded." Noah mumbled.
He looked at the bike as he said that. The pieces of the puzzle were clicking together in his head, and an answer was beginning to emerge to their problem.
"Whatcha thinking?" Katie asked.
"We're building her bike." He said, lowering his voice to a whisper and leaning close. "Let's make sure it doesn't finish first."
"Wait, how can we-" She stopped mid-sentence as she caught up with what he was implying. "Ooooooh. That's like, so dirty."
"So are you in?" Noah asked.
"Totally." She nodded. "That'll teach her to call my tarot cards stupid."
"Okay. I'm gonna loosen up a few screws. You're in charge of the decorations. Go get some large cardboard sheets and some glitter, I'll explain how that's gonna work once the bike is….tuned." He winked.
"Eeee." She clapped quietly. "You're so cute when you're scheming." She said, planting a kiss on his cheek.
He watched her leave for the arts and crafts tent, utterly starstruck.
Perhaps if Heather hadn't been so arrogant she would have seen the impending conspiracy to depose her. Her once seemingly invincible alliance was rumbling at its foundations, while she relaxed and worked on her tan down by the beach.
Shaken though it was, the alliance still trundled onwards. Perhaps Heather's tyranny would cause her own undoing from within, but her forceful personality was also what kept her minions at a level of quiet discontent, rather than open rebellion. It bought her time as much as it gnawed away at the foundations of her power.
Nowhere was this more clear than with Lindsay and Beth, who continued their work apace in service of an alliance made of hollow promises and fear. Ezekiel had finished his bike and was helping Beth put the rest of hers together. Lindsay's was mechanically complete and now being decorated with pink spray paint, sparkly ribbons, and one of those horse heads attached to the end of a broomstick that got sold as toys to little girls not rich enough to just buy a real horse.
Beth hated whenever things got too quiet. Her mind replayed scenario after scenario, like a VCR that could rewind and show a new sequence of events every time she let it run. She imagined every which way she could tell Heather off, and everyone would clap and cheer for her for finally putting the wicked witch in her place. All of them felt fake as hell, a distant fantasy. How could she ever hope to stand against someone who could shut her up with a glare?
"Hey Zeke." She spoke up softly. "Where'd you hear all that stuff you said? About guys and girls?"
He looked up, surprised at the question and nervous about answering it. He wrung his hands together, making stressed grunts and mutters as he debated with himself. .
"Oh you know. At home." He answered vaguely.
Thinking about the last time he shared values from home, Beth wasn't shocked.
"I know what it's like." She said. "Back on my farm, there's stuff that girls just don't do. We don't carry hay bales or unpack feed from the truck. There's a certain…expectation. We get up to make breakfast for the boys so they can get out and start working before sunrise. Does that sound familiar?"
"Mhm." He nodded. "Didn't realize how different it would be outside."
"I get that. I sorta had an idea since I wasn't homeschooled, but it's still crazy how different things are." Beth said. "Kinda like being on an alien planet."
"What's that eh?" Ezekiel asked.
"It's like a whole other world out in space, far from our planet. They have life on them and sometimes that life is smart and stuff, and we meet the alien creatures and become friends with them." Beth said. "Haven't you ever seen Star Trek?"
"Nah, my folks don't let me watch anything where they go into space eh. They say it's all just a big distraction so nobody drills down and finds the hollow center of the Earth."
"Ah." Beth nodded. She shrugged it off pretty easily- it wouldn't even crack the top half of weird conspiracies she'd heard back home.
"That's so crazy to think about eh. There are worlds above our heads, and below our feet." He looked up at the sky with a sense of awe and wonder now.
"Yep." Beth laughed. "Call me your Starfleet guide to space cause I can like…explain the stuff." She trailed off, wanting to slap herself. She was sure she had something cool and inspirational just waiting for the moment.
"So like, in Star Trek. do the guys and girls work together?" Ezekiel asked.
"Totally! Girls can be Captains of a whole ship and have lots of guys that work for them. Everyone is equal and stuff, so you don't get judged for not being pretty or popular." She explained eagerly.
He listened with rapt attention, absorbing every detail of the bright fictional future with wide eyes. The idea of a world where men and women held truly equal rights and shared equal success was as captivating as it was bizarre and foreign to him. And it certainly opened his mind to the concept a lot more than trying to strangle him ever did.
Their venture into distant worlds beyond the stars was interrupted however, by the arrival of one woman who indisputably held the lion's share of power in the world of the island. Heather came up from the beach, and Beth caught her in her peripheral vision just in time.
"Oh crud, Heather. Look like you're not having fun." Beth urged Zeke.
Upon arrival Heather glowered at Ezekiel with scathing disapproval, crossing her arms and looking down at him.
"What the hell is he doing here? I said no dating!" She barked.
"He's not my date." Beth insisted. "He's uh….my slave. See, he's building my bike!" Indeed he was, and in an effort to help Beth he more vigorously attempted to look busy in his work. "That's right." She said. "Get back to work slave!"
"Y-yes Ma'am." Ezekiel stammered fearfully, then looked up at Heather. "I haven't had a break all day. My fingers are so sore!"
"Good." Heather's scowl morphed into smug satisfaction. "Repent some more, homeschool."
"I don't think that applies-"
"Silence, laborer!" Beth interrupted him. "I don't want to hear a peep until my bike is done."
"Yeah, and like, after that, fan us to keep us cool." Lindsay added.
The deception was sufficient to see Heather leave, satisfied that Ezekiel was not getting friendly with the core of her alliance. She couldn't be more wrong.
Meanwhile, Geoff and Gwen's shell hunting adventure had come to an end with pretty positive results. They had several handfuls of shells, and at Gwen's suggestion he painted them a periwinkle color so they would stand out against the bright blue frame. As he glued the whole thing together to complete the look, his eyes welled up with tears again.
Gwen kept it together a bit more, but as she ran down the screws that would hold the bat wings in place she couldn't help but sigh wistfully.
"Trent would have loved this." She sighed.
"He would have?" Geoff asked.
"Yeah. He loved bikes, he has a part time job at a motorcycle shop and wants to open his own some day."
"Wait he does? I thought he was guitar guy, not bike guy." Courtney said.
"Oh come on guys, we had long, meaningful conversations about this." Gwen said. "He told everyone about how much he hated his Dad wanting him to be an accountant. He showed me sketches he made of his dream bike."
"I don't know Gwen." Geoff shook his head. "Maybe that was just between you guys because that doesn't sound at all like the Trent I remember."
"Whatever." Gwen rolled her eyes. "You guys just don't get him."
"True that homie." Geoff nodded. "We were never really tight so, I dunno. Maybe he liked bikes and I just never picked up what he was layin down. I know Bridgette doesn't like bikes, she crashed them all the time as a kid."
"Seriously? Gwen raised an eyebrow. "I thought that granola health nut would have loved biking. It's like, environmental."
"Oh she totally did. That's why she tried it again after the first crash. It's kinda wild how pretty her face ended up after all that."
"You know we're being recorded right? Bridgette's probably gonna hear that."
"Aw snap, really? Uh, sorry Bridgette, I didn't mean to say your face was messed up! It's really pretty, it doesn't look at all like it was ever in any bike crashes!"
"Don't get so worked up." Courtney said. "If she's put up with every dumbass thing you've said to her so far, one more can't hurt."
It impressed Gwen how easily and naturally Courtney rattled off that assurance and made it sound condescending. How Bridgette ever became close with either of them, was one of life's big mysteries to her.
"Hey, I haven't seen you making eyes at anyone here." Geoff said. "You got a dude at home waiting for you Courtney?"
She shook her head. "I don't have time for dating. Between college prep courses, student council and counselor training I have a full plate."
"Wow, you sure are….devoted." Gwen said. "Ever think about what your type would be if you had the time for it?"
"Obviously." Courtney said. "I'm going to marry someone as ambitious, academic and wealthy as I am, and who appreciates all my many talents."
"I hope he's just as humble too." Gwen said.
Speckled sunlight filtered down through the clouds as high noon came and went. Most of the contestants had assembled mechanically functioning bikes of varying quality. One contestant however hadn't lifted a finger to make her own ride, and instead had a fully formed machine waiting for her courtesy of Noah and Katie.
The bike was ostentatious and elaborate. The seat was more like a huge cardboard throne that would look more appropriate at a palace than on a bicycle. Two big red banners straddled either side of the seat, bearing Heather's face sewed into them, looking down condescendingly upon all who beheld it. And all of it was decked out in pink, gold and silver glitter that sparkled with the passing rays of sun.
"Ugh, what the hell?" She scoffed. "I asked for a fast bike, why's it covered in junk?"
"It is a fast bike." Noah insisted. "I calibrated the ratio of the gearbox so that when it interacts with the anti-mass spectrometer, it produces a resonance frequency that propagates acceleration pulses, overcoming the static friction from rest and allowing very high top end speeds."
"Those aren't even words!" Heather said.
"Bold claim coming from someone who didn't read the bike manual." Noah said.
Heather approached him with a menacing glare, but before she could close to slapping distance Katie interposed herself. "Okay, so maybe we went a teensy bit overboard on the glitter." She said. "We could take it off if you wanted-"
"No way!" Heather reeled back, horrified and shocked. "That bike is fabulous, just like me. I will not have you trying to sabotage my presentation!" She shoved past both of them and grabbed the bike by the handlebars, walking away with it.
Noah was stunned silent. It had all happened so fast he wasn't sure what had happened at all. What he did know for sure however, was that now Heather was walking away from them with a bike that was expressly designed to fail. With any luck, it would perform that function magnificently, and knock her down a peg for so callously turning on Noah's best friend.
Soon they were putting the finishing touches on their bikes. Perhaps surprisingly, nobody had outright failed to produce one, save for Heather who had outright refused. Though they varied in shape and size, everyone had managed to cobble together something that at least resembled a functional riding machine.
When it came time for Chris to inspect their work, they walked the bikes to the beach and formed a row for him to walk along. The host made a first pass to get a first impression, then went right to judging.
"Well campers, we gave you the parts, lets see what you came up with." Chris said. The first bike that he went to inspect was Heather's.
"Woah, this ride is tricked out." Chris said. "If first impressions won races, you'd have this in the bag."
"I needed a bike that's as fabulous as I am, and here it is." Heather said. "These losers are so going to be jealous that I look so much better while winning."
"Aerodynamically questionable, but I appreciate the showmanship." Chris said. "We'll see how far it gets you."
Next up was Courtneys. It was minimalistic. Not a single piece of unnecessary decoration adorned the chassis, and it had only been painted to cover up rust spots and other visual blemishes. The parts that were needed to make the bike work were cleaned up to meticulous condition. The gears were greased, the chains oiled. Overall, it looked like a perfectly acceptable, generic bike, presentable visually without any needless distractions from the performance.
"Clean and professional, but lacking a little something." Chris said. "Would it have killed you to put a decal, or a ribbon or something on it?"
"It would have been less time spent on the parts that actually make it go forward." Courtney pointed out.
"Can't argue with that. Still kinda lame." Chris shrugged.
After her, something more artistic awaited the host. Geoff's bike was a splendid blue color inspired by Bridgette's favorite outfit, with handlebars painted gold to represent her hair. The seat had been fashioned out of two large pieces from the surfboard he wrecked earlier, with cushions glued to it. The front had the garbage can lid with the Bridgette macaroni bust proudly displayed, while sea shells were lined in rows along the length of the bike.
"I call her….Bridgette." Geoff sniffled, wiping away manly tears.
"Now this? This is art." Chris nodded approvingly. "You put your heart and soul into this man."
"Thanks. I just…wish the real one was here…" He turned to one of the cameras and looked right at it as if he could see her face inside the cold dead lens. "Babe, if you're out there, this one's for you!"
"We'll see if love crosses the finish line first, or Geoff's broken hearted masterpiece has its run cut short. Just like his dating life." Chris said. "For now, let's move on."
Further down the line was Gwen, who had assembled a spooky yet practical bike that combined her morbid interests and homaged her own lost love more subtly than Geoff's. It was low slung, with a large front wheel giving it a profile reminiscent of a motorbike, and bat wings on either side of the seat that she'd fashioned from a busted up old guitar. It was painted black and purple, and spikes dotted the rim of the wheels.
"Spooky, yet practical." Chris said. "Well done."
"I call it the Pale Rider." Gwen said. "Trent was working on a song called that."
"Wicked. Looks rock steady, but that low clearance might seriously bite ya." Chris said. "We'll see how that pans out."
Now they were onto Noah's bike, which was certainly the most mechanically unique entry. Leaning into a fantasy theme, the rider sat at the back of the bike, and the pedals ran forwards to the front wheel. The handlebars thus had to be quite excessively long to be reached, and the whole seating area was surrounded by a wooden mockup of a chariot, painted gold with silver stars and leaves glued to it for decoration.
"Someone's early to ren fair." Chris commented.
If Chris knew anything he'd know that chariots were a staple of battlefields in classical antiquity, and that by the Renaissance they had been replaced by mounted cavalry. But Noah wasn't about to correct him, he was a brain but he wasn't the sort of dweeb who advertised how much he knew by reciting facts that only other dweebs cared about.
"Yep, rocking it old school." Noah said.
"Dunno what the weird layout is gonna do, but all that covering around the rider will make this bike great for bashing. Cannot wait to see this baby cause some carnage on the track."
"It will be positively gladiatorial." Noah said.
Nearby was Katie, who presented something less ancient yet still harkening back to the past in its own way. It was painted silver with black trim, and behind the seat some cut up windshield wipers, plastic cups, hoses, and mechanical greebles were arranged into the impression of a DeLorean ready to go 88mph.
"I see the new couple is going for a theme of ancient history." Chris said. "Where's the hoverboard and orange vest?"
"We won't have those until 2015." Katie said, not prepared for the immeasurable disappointment she would experience when that year rolled around and no hoverboards were in sight. "Wait, weren't you like, alive or something when Back to the Future came out?"
For a moment Chris's expression flashed with pure rage, and Katie stepped back fearfully. His hostly composure then returned as if nothing had happened, and he laughed. "No way dude, that's before my time."
Sensing that she'd said something terribly wrong, Katie nodded vigorously in agreement. "Oh yeah totally haha, my bad."
After her was Ezekiel. The most striking feature of his bike was that he'd installed shock absorbers, which made the bike sit rather high up at rest. Complimenting the suspension were wide, rugose tires, which combined to give it the appearance of an unpowered dirtbike. Indeed, even the paint scheme, a bright orange with white decals and trim would look right at home on the real thing.
"Dude, this looks ready to rock the cross country rally." Chris gave him a thumbs up.
"Thanks eh. The guys in the house across from mine build these and race them around in the fields during winter. Sometimes I sneak out and join them. Usually they have a motor though, makes them go a lot faster."
"Hey I wanted these to be motorbikes, but the producers said that was dangerous." Chris threw up mocking air quotes. "Unsafe, hazardous, a PR nightmare waiting to happen."
"Shame. Sounds like it would have been a lot of fun eh." Ezekiel said.
"Right you are my man. Your bike looks solid, but will the smooth ride make up for all that extra weight? We'll find out here shortly, but before that we cover our last two entries."
In open and bold defiance of Heather's disdain for all things nerdy, Beth had prepared a bike to boldly go where no bike had gone before. A pair of wooden boards were nailed to the frame right below the seat mount, sticking straight out to the sides. On the ends were pieces of PVC pipe, painted silver with red solo cups glued onto the front to make it look like the engines of a Star Trek spaceship. On the front, there was a frisbee wire-tied to the handlebars, painted the same silver as the engines and with USS Bertha stenciled on it.
"Someone got lost on the way to comicon." Chris smirked. "You gonna have Captain Scotty beam you to the finish line?"
The belittling made her gut twist, but she didn't flinch or shrink back. She was tired of hiding her interests to chase popularity with people who hated her. She put a smile on her face and replied. "Actually I won't need Chief Engineer Scotty to beam me anywhere," She corrected him, "I'm going warp speed right across the finish line under pedal power."
Chris had to physically cover his mouth not to laugh out loud at that way too hard. Beth didn't exactly blame him, she knew it was a ridiculously dorky thing to say. He could laugh all he wanted for all she cared, but she wouldn't let him make her feel ashamed.
"Good luck with that." Chris snickered, getting his laughter under control enough to move on to the last bike.
"Lindsay, please save us from Beth's suckitude." Chris said.
She frowned at the way he talked about her friend, but any reservations vanished when she realized it was her turn to show off her creation. Lindsay's bike was a shimmering purple color, with big swoopy handlebars that had long pink streamers dangling from them. She'd cleaned up the old toy horse head and pampered it in a coat of glitter, and hanging off the back of the seat was an old mop head, turned pink in a tub of highlighter fluid.
"Go ahead, ring her bell." Lindsay said.
Chris rang the bell. It sounded like a completely normal bicycle bell, and he looked at her with a puzzled expression. What was the point of that?
"The real bike has a bell that goes," And then Lindsay put on the most bizarre and awkward impression of a horse whinnying and neighing that Chris ever saw. Oh well, she looked really good while doing it, so it would probably be a lot better for ratings than whatever the hell Beth had just put forward.
"Campers, you've all put forth your bikes and made your case for them." Chris said, returning to a position in front of the whole row of bikes. "Now it is time to pass judgment."
"Some of you brought some serious mechanical know-how to your builds. Others went for artistic expression. And one of you put your heart and soul into your creation in a way that moved even me." He said. "Geoff. Come up and claim your prize."
A small round of applause from Courtney and Gwen followed Geoff as he stepped out of the crowd. He was still a bit misty eyed over Bridgette but did a better job keeping it this time.
"Thanks bro." He said. "So like, what did I win?"
"That's up to you to decide." Chris said, delight creeping into his features as Geoff and everyone else looked confused, trying to figure out what that was supposed to mean.
"See, here's the twist. I said you would be building the bikes, and you did. I didn't say however, that you would specifically be riding your bike." Chris said. "For the race, all your bikes will be randomly assigned. All except Geoff here, who gets to pick whatever bike he wants to run in the race."
Many of the contestants sounded unhappy about this. They'd spent long hours working on their bikes, only to have them yanked out of their hands unwillingly. Their groaning was like music to Chris's ears. He turned back to look at Geoff.
"My man, the call is all yours. You can pick the fastest, meanest looking bike anyone built, and you get to ride it to victory."
"That's easy man." Geoff said. "I pick mine."
"...you do?" Chris raised a brow.
"Yeah man. Bridgette's my babe, I gotta ride her!" Geoff said, and a couple of people in the crowd snickered.
"Careful dude. That way lies many, many child support payments." Chris tried to make it sound like a joke, but it was stilted and the bitterness was palpable to the more emotionally perceptive campers. "Anywho, there's no rule saying you can't pick your own bike. If that's what you want, I can't stop you."
"Sweet!" Geoff pumped his fist.
"The rest of you." Chris produced an upside-down hat from behind his back. He fished through it for a few seconds, plucking Geoff's name out of it and setting it aside. "Come pull a name and see whose bike you're getting!"
They stepped forward one at a time, plucking out the names and reading them as they went by. Most of them weren't too thrilled about it, but when Beth saw whose she got she was beaming from ear to ear.
"Look!" She turned to Lindsay, behind her in line. "I got your bike!"
"Omg, that's great! You so deserve it, I hope I get yours too!" Lindsay said, taking a name out of the hat. She would be disappointed however, as Ezekiel's name came up instead.
"Aw." She sighed. "Guess we won't be bike swapping besties."
"It's fine." Beth assured her. "He did make a good bike."
There would be a bike swap yet however, as while Courtney had drawn Noah's bike with the first pull, Noah came in next and drew her bike. Shockingly, neither of them was nearly as thrilled about it as Lindsay and Beth would have been. Heather was content with Katie's 80s machine, it wasn't the best bike but she was confident she could get the job done with it.
After them was Katie herself. She drew her name, and turned stiff when she saw it was Heather's bike. The one that she and Noah had designed to fail. She bit her lip and thought about trying to toss it back it, but they would surely see that right? But could they do anything about it except force her to draw again if she did?
"Katie, move on." Chris snapped. "We're on a schedule here people."
She eeped, scrambling away over to Noah. He didn't show it, but she could sense his anxiety too. They quietly hoped together that the bike would hold, and that their sabotage would prove insufficient.
Towards the end of the line was Gwen. Her bike was still available after all the pulls, and she was hopeful that the fifty-fifty chance she had of getting it back would be enough. It was not to be however, as instead she found Beth's name scrawled onto the piece of paper. Rather than be disappointed however, she took it in stride and even found herself smiling a little. Good to know that Beth had her back even when it was a matter of luck of the draw.
"Guess I get Gwen's eh?" Ezekiel said. Pulling the paper out when there was one unclaimed bike left was a formality, but one that he obliged all the same. Unsurprisingly, it turned out to be Gwen's. She glared daggers at him as he went to go grab it.
"Great, four hours of suffering just so homeschool can trash my ride." She rolled her eyes.
"I won't eh." He shook his head, shrinking from her nervously. "Promise I'll get this back in one piece."
"You better." She said. Internally she cursed herself for getting attached to a bike that would probably be scrapped as soon as the challenge was over. Maybe associating it with her departed boyfriend was a bad idea after all.
They all had their bikes, but Chris didn't send them down to the starting line yet. Instead, once he saw they'd all grabbed the correct bikes, he addressed them once more.
"Now, here's where things get interesting." Chris said. "Now that you have your bikes, it's time you learned what this race is really about. You won't be racing for immunity tonight."
He paused for a moment, just long enough for confusion to settle in and their brains to go wild with speculation as to what the point of the challenge was. That would make the bombshell hit that much harder when it dropped.
"You will be racing…for survival. There will be no elimination ceremony tonight. No voting, no marshmallow, no ceremony. This race decides it all."
The murmurs went dead silent, and all that could be heard was the distant cries of birds and the lake water lapping against the beach.
"You will make one lap around the island. Whoever crosses the finish line last is out of here. If multiple people wipe out before the finish line, then whoever does so furthest from the finish line gets eliminated."
The contestants were stunned. Wordlessly everyone's priorities shifted to a single, all-important goal. Don't be last.
"Wait!" Courtney shot up a hand in protest. "You can't do this to us! You said every night there would be a vote!"
"Yeah. About that. I lied." Chris chuckled. "Again."
"This is a suspension of democracy! How dare you."
"See, this show isn't really a democracy. It's a monarchy where we decide some things by democratic means." Chris said.
"Which is how our system actually works." Heather chimed in. "If you knew anything about politics outside how to suck at running for student council president."
"If it makes you feel any better." Chris said. "Think of it as voting with your feet. Except the vote is exclusively for yourself and the issue you are voting on is how badly you wanna stay."
Seeing that she wasn't going to get anywhere, Courtney shut up. People often said that she loved to argue, but that wasn't really true. She just liked being right, and everyone knowing she was right. If they weren't going to acknowledge how right she was, there was no point in discussing anything.
"If there are no more questions." Chris said. "Take your bikes down to the beach. You'll find the starting line there."
There were no more questions. The stakes were clear, and nobody saw it more clearly than Heather did. For the first time in the entire game, she looked fearful. It was subtle, but she turned an even more ghastly shade of pale than usual. Such fear had never crossed her expression at any elimination- those were simple. Have more votes than any one group trying to usurp her, and pick her target.
That was easy. Here, no amount of votes could save her. Her enemies could box her into last place, and from the whispers and murmurs circulating between Gwen, Courtney and Geoff she could only assume they were planning to do just that.
She couldn't let them. She wouldn't let them.
As they went down to the beach she corralled Beth and Lindsay away from the group, where they could discuss without being eavesdropped upon. "Okay this is seriously bad. They're going to gang up on me to stop me from crossing, I just know it."
"How terrible." Beth tried to sound concerned, very poorly.
"This isn't funny." Heather hissed, pointing an accusing finger at her. "And you have a lot of making up to do. Nobody in my alliance is going to talk about how much they like Dork Trek on national television. Are you trying to embarrass us?"
Beth opened her mouth to protest, but just one look from Heather and her words caught in her throat. She shrunk back quietly, and listened.
"Now here's what you're going to you. I need both of you to ride behind me and block anyone who tries to pass me. This alliance is nothing without me, I cannot be last."
"But, if we're behind you, won't we get eliminated instead?" Lindsay asked.
"Only if we're in last, which we won't be if you do your job right." Heather said. "Run the others off the road if you have to, I don't care just don't let them through."
Reluctantly they both nodded in agreement.
As the campers lined their bikes up at the start, Noah pulled his up alongside Katie's.
"Just don't push it too hard." He whispered. "Find the slowest person and stay ahead of them. Try to avoid any bumps or rough spots."
"Right." She said.
It wasn't his best strategy ever, but they were in a bind and out of time. Chris had arrived, holding an air horn as usual. An intern waited by the line with a checkered flag. Everyone held onto their handlebars with mute anticipation, watching their host, waiting for the cue to begin.
"Campers, are you ready?" Chris asked rhetorically. "On your marks. Get set. Race!"
The horn blared, the flag dropped. Nine bikes surged forth across the sand towards victory, and survival.
Heather took an early lead, while her alliance struggled to keep up with her aggressive start. Right behind them, Courtney and her associates closed in. Here at the start the beach was wide, and Courtney could easily pass Heather at a distance. Lindsay and Beth had to sweep back and forth in broad, serpentine circles to cover all the gaps through which they could slip past.
In doing so they had to cover more distance for the same amount of distance traveled, and bled speed in the process. As they crossed back towards Heather, Courtney cut around them on the outside, speeding past and nearly catching up to Heather.
Spotting the danger, Heather violently swung her bike directly towards Courtney, who instinctively braked lest Heather knock her into the lake.
"Watch it!" She snapped, getting no response back as Heather settled back into her lead.
At the back of the group meanwhile, Noah and Katie were grappling with Ezekiel to not be last. The couple worked together to try and block him in and push him towards the shore. But he wasn't going to go down quietly. He spotted a small hill rising from the beach and swerved towards it, sprinting to get as much speed as possible built up going into it.
His bike leapt skyward as it catapulted off the natural ramp, giving him just the boost he needed to dive in front of Katie and hold it there. His lead didn't last long, as Noah dropped back right beside him and gave him a kick to the front wheel. Ezekiel had to drop back and slow down to keep his machine upright, the bike wobbling violently as he corrected against the blow.
Up ahead the beach began to narrow, forcing all the people in front to cluster up into an increasingly chaotic furball. Lindsay and Beth did their best to cover Heather as Gwen, Courtney and Geoff converged on them from multiple directions. Gwen came towards them on Beth's side, causing her to flinch and swerve out of the way. The Goth sailed past her right towards Heather, who dropped back just before Geoff and Courtney cut in front of her, causing them to nearly crash into each other.
The melee was fortuitous for those lagging behind, the leaders being dragged down and allowing the laggards to close the gap. Heather and Beth dropped out of the group, and as Noah and Katie moved to pass them, Ezekiel took advantage of the distraction to cut ahead of all four on the left side.
The opportunity for Noah and Katie to follow closed up rapidly. The road narrowed again, and there was only room for maybe two bikes to pass Heather on her left- trying to go around to the right would plunge them into the lake waters. Naturally, Beth took up the space on the left and split the distance so she could easily lean left or right and stop anyone from overtaking Heather.
"Let us through!" Katie shouted. "We're on your side!"
Beth winced internally. She liked Katie, she was her friend, why would she do this to her for Heather? She didn't have time to contemplate it however, as the terrain took another turn for the worse. Smooth sandy beach gave way to ground littered in stones and rocks, ranging in size from fine gravel to small boulders. Beth had to dodge and weave to avoid running into the largest of them, inadvertently giving Noah a chance to slip by. But Katie stayed back there with her, seemingly unwilling to take the opportunity in front of her to get ahead of Heather.
The question of why she drove so cautiously lingered in the back of her head. Beth focused on just getting through this most perilous stretch of race without crashing. The cliff now loomed large directly over their heads, and the route narrowed to a lone rocky path along the base of the cliff. In single file they walked their bikes along the precarious path. The camera crews watched them from the water on boats, their likeness one of great sea monsters waiting for an unfortunate land dweller to slip into their realm. Of course their presence was far more benign than that, but with their minds on survival everything looked more like a threat the longer the race went on.
On the opposite side of the cliff the track connected back to dry land with solid ground. As soon as there was room to do so the campers spread out and took off as fast as they could, rejuvenated by the chance to slow down and breath. For the ones who had fallen behind early it was a chance to get ahead.
This time it was Heather's alliance that seized the opportunity, and Courtney's counter alliance that was overtaken. Lindsay surged ahead of everyone, the bike that Ezekiel built proving its worth over the rugged terrain. Zeke himself was right behind her, and Heather and Beth were right after him. Now it was against Courney and Geoff that Noah and Katie battled against not to be last.
It wasn't much of a fight. Despite the bizarre ergonomics of Noah's bike, Courtney made it work shockingly well and darted between them as soon as the ground smoothed out into sand again. This next stretch of beach wasn't smooth with irregular rises like the last one, it was properly hilly with high dunes and low pits.
Here, Courtney made her next move against Heather. She accelerated as hard as she could doing down a slope, so that when she came up she was riding hard on momentum. It was far more momentum than she anticipated, and her bike soared into the air. A shadow flashed over Heather's head. She was stunned to look up and see Courtney, in that absurd fantasy themed machine that Noah built, screaming back down to Earth like a rear wheel just barely missed her head as Courtney roared past, slamming into the ground in front of her. The flimsy wooden box surrounding her seat shattered from the impact, scattering nails and splinters across the ground in front of anyone she'd just passed with that stunt.
Heather swerved to avoid the wreckage, but Beth didn't see it until it was too late. She felt the debris crunch beneath her wheels as she passed it. Those further back had plenty of time to spot the danger and give it a wide berth. At first, it seemed like both Beth and Heather had escaped unscathed, and they carried on as before. The race had brought them to the small hills on the West side of the island, upon the highest of which sat the campfire. Seeing it from below in broad daylight was a surreal inversion of the usual perspective they had on the location, but one which that had precious little time or mental capacity to appreciate. The race carried on.
Now they were getting to the production crew camp, the last major landmark before they made the final sprint to the finish line. Trailers, craft service tents, and unattended vehicles littered the area, scattering the campers as they were forced to navigate the field of hazards. Thankfully the crew members themselves had been relocated for the duration of the challenge. It was hard enough to get through there without having to dodge hapless interns.
It was also here that Beth began to notice something wrong with how her bike was handling. The longer she rode it the more resistance there was in the pedals. At first she thought it was just a patch of soft ground, but even on hard, compacted dirt where she should have picked up the most speed, the pedals felt like she was pushing them through molasses.
She emerged from the other side of the production camp, only to find she'd dropped back several places. The only other camper she still held a lead against was Katie, and as they settled in for the final leg of the race she was catching up, albeit slowly.
Then, it dawned on her what the problem might be. Her memory flashed back to the debris she rode over earlier. She had a flat tire, or rather a tire that was becoming flatter with every inch she moved forwards. Sure enough, she looked down and back, and the rubber of her rear tire squatted outwards against the ground. Her heart sank.
All was not lost yet, however. Katie was still behind her, and as much as Beth hated to do it to a friend, survival was still her priority. She forced the bike ahead, against its will, trying to stave off Katie catching up long enough to cross the finish line.
It proved to be a false hope. As they scrambled for the finish line, both of them desperate not to be last, Katie inched ever closer to passing Beth, with plenty of distance left to do so. The grim reality started to settle on Beth's shoulders. This was it. This was the end of the line.
Her fear started boiling into rage. This wouldn't have happened if she had just ignored Heather and gone her own way. She'd waited too long to stand up for herself and now she was going to pay the price for it. Why had she given up some much for someone who had crossed the finish line without even bothering to look back at her plight? It made her want to scream at herself, but it made her want to scream at Heather more.
That anger fueled one last rally from Beth, as she fought to stay alongside Katie with every last ounce of her remaining strength. Desperate to keep just an inch of her bike out in front, fighting a losing battle against the inevitable. She would not go quietly, she would make Katie fight to earn her spot in the game.
Then, mere feet from the finish line, something happened. Katie's bike lurched. It wobbled and rattled once, then a second time. The third time, the whole rear wheel came off, carrying the bike chain and gears with it. Katie crashed into the sand.
It bought Beth precious seconds. Katie got up and sprinted after her on foot, but Beth had just enough lead from the crash to drag her bike across the finish line first.
"And Beth wins the race between cripples for not last!" Chris declared as she crossed. "Katie! You're out!"
Exhausted, the not-loser tumbled off her bike and fell to the ground beside it. Her head was filled with a hurricane of emotions. The joy that she could stay tempered her flared up anger, and sadness encroached on both as she realized that her survival was Katie's demise.
As she lay there just trying to catch her breath, the glittered-coated purple face of Lindsay's bike-horse stared back at her with cold, dead plastic eyes. Its mouth was stitched into a permanent goofy grin, and Beth couldn't help but grin back, and reach out to give it a congratulatory pat on the head.
"Good job Sally." She said. "Good job."
Despondent, Katie threw her arms around Noah, burying her face in his chest. This time there were no loud, bawling sobs, just muffled whimpers. Had she grown more mature in these past few weeks, or was it simply easier for her to take her own loss, than that of her best friend? Maybe it was was a bit of both, Noah thought.
"I'm sorry." He whispered, running a hand through her hair. "That plan really backfired on us, huh?"
"We seriously messed up…" She muttered.
"Awww, how sweet." Chris crooned at the mourning couple. "Katie, you have an hour to say goodbye and get ready to leave."
"Are you sure we can't do a rematch?" Katie asked. "Isn't there like some clause about how if the bike fails it like, doesn't count?"
"Nope." Chris said. "All results are final unless we suspect there was foul play, but all the referees are saying it's good." He tapped the microphone on his walky talky.
While Beth was still reeling, Heather and Lindsay flocked to Katie's side. Lindsay looked heartbroken, and Heather didn't look happy either, but Noah suspected it was more because she was about to lose a vote than for any personal concern she had about Katie. Still, she put up a good front.
"You know, you guys could have helped more." Katie crossed her arms.
"We're sorry." Heather said. "But really, there was nothing we could do. Your bike was the one that fell apart, we couldn't prevent that."
Something in Heather's tone told her that she realized it was supposed to be her bike, and that some part of her was satisfied she didn't get it after all.
"Still." She sighed. "Totally not cool leaving me behind like that."
"Maybe if your boyfriend was better at building bikes it wouldn't have been an issue." Heather said.
"Well maybe we should have been better at picking alliances." Katie huffed. "I quit!"
"You can't quit when you've already been eliminated, idiot." Heather rolled her eyes.
Katie didn't dignify that with a response. "Come on Noah, let's go." She said, grabbing him by the arm and taking him back to the campgrounds. If she was gonna spend another hour on this island, it was going to be with someone who actually cared.
It hadn't quite hit Noah yet, what Katie's elimination meant. Not until they were almost back at the cabins did it click. He would be alone, again. Exactly like when he came to the Island. Everyone close to him was gone, and he had been powerless to stop it, twice.
"So I guess this is it for us huh?" He asked her.
"Huh? Noah what are you talking about?" She tilted her head. "I'm just being eliminated, I'm not like, dying."
"Yeah but after this we just go home right?" Noah said. "So, yeah. Game over."
"No." Katie shook her head. "Not game over."
She dashed up the steps of the cabin and ran inside. A few seconds later she emerged with a pen and notepad, scribbling something down. When she finished, she tore the page off and pushed it into Noah's hand.
Confused, he looked down and skimmed through the contents. The first line was just a bunch of numbers. The second line was…
1871 St Andrews Street, Twig Harbor, ON
His heart stopped. That was an address, which meant the number above could only be one thing.
"Is this your…"
Katie made a gesture like holding up a phone to her ear. "Call me. We'll pick up where we left off."
Noah thought he might faint right there. Could it really be that he might walk away from this show with something less bitter than disappointment and something more valuable than cold hard cash? It seemed way too good to be true, he followed her around for the next hour waiting her to drop the act and reveal the number was fake and the address was her friend's.
Such a twist never befell him. Noah had to resign himself to the fact that he would have to wait to be disappointed until he tried calling the number and nobody picked up. It would be easier to handle like that, he imagined.
He also wasn't the only one to get Katie's number either. The next time they saw Lindsay and Beth, Katie scrawled out a copy for each of them.
"So like, we're so still on for the shopping spree." Katie told them. "Call me and we'll totally like, find a time to meet up and do this!"
"But the Galleria Mall is all the way in downtown Toronto, and I live in Saskatchewan." Beth pointed out.
"Didn't Chip say something about prize money for getting this far?" Lindsay said. "Just like, buy a plane ticket."
"Eeeeee that's such a good idea Lindsay!" Katie clapped. "Oh! You could stay at my house and it'll be like a sleepover every night!"
"You'd really do that? For me?" Beth's eyes went wide with excitement. She'd never been invited to a sleepover with popular kids before! Or anyone for that matter! Her joy was significantly dampened when she noticed that Noah was still attached to her. "Is he gonna be there?"
"No way!" Lindsay said. "Boys don't get to come to sleepovers."
"But he needs a makeover so bad!" Katie pointed out. "Oh! We can take him to the mall and replace all his ugly hand me downs with the hottest fashions."
Time would not be kind to the hottest fashions of 2007, and those clothes would become tacky as fast or faster than the hand-me-downs they were intended to replace. Noah, ever the cynical soul, was already skeptical that the current trends were good even in the present, much less five years into the future. Still, if it meant getting out of these rags and having fun with his girlfriend, he'd play along.
"Eeeeee." He droned monotonously. "Shopping spree here I come! Hey, does an Xbox 360 count as improving my fashion?"
They went on like that for a while, the girls bouncing back ideas how they could make themselves and Noah look stunning. Between Lindsay's credit card and the assumption at least one of them might win, the budget for the hypothetical was limitless and everything but the moon itself was floated as a potential purchase.
Evening came, and Katie's departure was accompanied by one of the most resplendent sunsets the island had yet seen. Scattered clouds gave the light a canvas onto which they could paint their majesty, the tops glowing and the bottoms turning a deep purple hue. It was on this backdrop that the Boat of Losers trundled towards the dock to carry her away from the island for good.
That was odd, she thought. Usually it was already there waiting at the dock for the eliminated contestant. Then as it pulled up and the stern came into view, Katie realized why it had done that, and where the boat had been.
"Sadie!" She cried.
Sure as the rising moon, there was the most important person in Katie's life there waiting to see her off. Any melancholy she had about being eliminated was washed away by pure joy, and she leapt onto the boat to tackle hug her dearly missed friend.
"Eeeeeee you're here! You're really here!" Katie cried. "Oh my gosh, I missed you soooo so so much! So much happened after you left, it was totally crazy!"
"You gotta tell me all about it!" Sadie said. "Eeeeee this is so great! Back together with my bestie!"
"Sorry I didn't win for you." Katie sighed, relaxing her grip a little.
"Who cares?" Sadie said. "You still made it far and kicked butt! I told you that you could do it."
Glancing back over her shoulder at the dock, Katie exchanged knowing glances with Noah. "Well, I wasn't completely alone. Hey Noah, think we should tell her?"
"If it's okay with you, I'd rather show her." He smirked.
Katie let go of Sadie, grabbed him by the collar, and pulled him towards her for one last kiss. Sadie went wide eyed, clapping excitedly.
"Oh my gosh, my bestie has a boyfriend!" She squealed. "That has to be the first thing you tell me about on the way back."
"Oh it so will be." Katie said.
The boat's motor revved up, and it pulled away from the dock. Thus concluded the story of two best friends on Total Drama Island, which but for want of a berry bush had nearly come to an abrupt end, and for a literal want of a nail had ended in disaster there on the race track. They were losers, but they were happy losers.
From the dock, Beth was the last to turn away as she watched them go. She still puzzled over how she remained here, still standing in the competition on her own two feet. She was dead to rights, and then somehow, as if by miracle, she was saved. There on the dock she silently promised to whatever higher power had saved her, that she would not squander this salvation. She would stand up to Heather, she would push herself to be someone DJ would be proud of.
The sun sunk ever deeper below the horizon. Her resolve to do so would be tested in the upcoming dark interval.